Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr. Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, in a written reply to an unstarred question in the Lok Sabha today, said that BharatNet is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs). The total number of GPs undertaken under BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II are 2,22,341 GPs, out of which 2,14,904 are Service Ready. Implementation of BharatNet is periodically reviewed by the Government and also in State Broadband Committee(s) and District Level Telecom Committee(s).

A revised implementation model has been worked out and Amended BharatNet Program (ABP) has been approved by the Union Cabinet on 04.08.2023 to provide optical fiber connectivity to ~2.64 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) and ~3.8 lakh non-GP villages on demand basis across the country. Implementation of ABP shall be undertaken on Design Build Operate and Maintain (DBOM) model by professional agencies selected as Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) through open bidding process.

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MI/ARJ

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